Sunday, March 10, 2013

It’s a Truism, that Hindi Film Music
has contributed much to ‘National Integration’. viz. while you may not follow
the spoken part of a Hindi movie, Music supposedly has no language. Even Yuri
Gagarin sang Mera Joota hai Japani….IK
agrees and cites another observation in support of the integrative accolade, that
much of the serious analysis of Hindi Film Music comes from Tamilians or
Malayalis: aadi purush Raju Bharatan,
then Ganesh Anantharaman, Raghava R. Menon, Kamini Mathai, Narayana Jayaram, Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti (Andhra?),
also some Bengalis like Madhuja Mukherjee…Carl von ‘Bailiff…

Somehow reviewing film music seriously
has not been considered very very -mince
‘elite’…or maybe academically fructuous… considered akin, perhaps, to writing
reviews for WWF matches. May we aks, why then is writing about Cricket still considered
sexy? In fact, the Hindu concept of karma
has much to do with Cricket as she is played today- whatever is going to happen
tomorrow is already ordained and written….by bookies..ya…One recalls the preface of Raju Bharatan's Journey Down Melody Lane....where he makes the following observation (on how he got the film music beat):

"...cinema coverage got to be contemptuously assigned to me – after all those intellectual heavyweights (manning The Illustrated Weekly of India in The Times of India Building at Bombay’s Bori Bunder) considered it beneath their dignity to handle something so demeaning as ‘films’!"And pray what did Ustad Amir Khan feel about the best film music directors such as Naushad and C. Ramchandra? He asks Bharatan: ‘..what have these names you’re flaunting to do with music as an art form?’ (Bharatan, Raju (2010-09-01). A Journey Down Melody Lane (Kindle Locations 147-148). Hay House. Kindle Edition. )Bhaiyya...! You have gone on record saying Narayana can show up as a bhikshu, or ahem...Allahtala as a fakir....we are mere insaan... how can you say the classical God is disdainful of the sugam....?

IK is un-pretentious-
a Witch’s Brew which welcomes, with open arms, all elements- the Damask Rose Fragrance,
the Lorentz Transformation, Tuka’s Abhangas, Chabiwala Bank, Panditji’s taans,
Meera’s simplicity, the Shillong weather, Madras Torture Commission…wagairah…wagairah…IK considers itself
the spooky spokesman, he, he, he…of the lost tribe of Ustad Nizamuddin Khan,
Pt. Khaprumama Parvatkar and Sebastian d’Souza . And Ashok Razdan. People who
did not leave their visiting cards behind- they never thought of getting
printed one. Watching their foot-prints is itself as delicious a game as Cloud
Watching, the game that our friend Abhinav Gupt moots.

The blog’s eccentric eclecticism
owes to the Delhi air of the 50s and 60s, when the Lahore westerly wind was
allowed un-fettered access to Mera Bharat Mahan…punjabiyat hor wargi hundi si oas vele… you could see old school Arya
Samaj ‘morality’ of the ‘Buniyaad’ variety, actually practiced,
Aromas of India- roasted coffee beans, sambar
powder, maach, rajma-chawal, alfonso,
coconut oil, शेवंतीचेगजरे, ..had a free run of the
criss-cross lanes and parks of Karol Bagh, New Delhi-5. We relish being in
cultural cauldrons, as we have been saying. That’s why we are in the North
East, I sayyyy…!

IK is certainly about
meaningless diversions, granted, but meaningful interjections are also tolerated,
ha, ha, ha…!

Let’s put the record straight insofar as the scholarship
brought to bear upon Hindi Movies is concerned. What has taken one seventh of
humanity by the scruff of its neck has to be a subject of serious socio-research
is it not?…Gregory Booth (Peck illa…),for
one, the NZ anthropo-sociologist has delved deep into the subject of Hindi Film
Music. Just regard this passage from a paper “Pandits
in the Movies: Contesting the Identity of Hindustani Classical Music and
Musicians In the Hindi Popular Cinema” published on the Auckland
University portal:

“Ustad Halim Jaffar Khan, who worked on Kohinoor, and other films with
Naushad, explains that the singing in the scene was undertaken by Ustad Neyaz
Ahmad “Naushad spoke to him about this scene. He said, “Please forgive me
Khan-saheb, but for this scene please sing some taans and things, but in a
comic way, a foolish way” (performed on screen by Mukri). Neyaz Ahmad agreed to
do that”…in the same way that ‘blackface minstrels’ in the US epitomized and
concentrated the thrust of white racism. Supposedly comic representation of
Muslim classical musicians generates a subtle spotlight on attitudes towards both classical musicians
and Muslim Classical Musicians”.

Booth has a lot to
say about the Indian brand of Secularism patented by Hindi Movies. For ethnomusicology and
anthropological studies, Anna Moran is another name to reckon with. We however must live with Rajan Parrikar's take on the discipline of éthnomusicology: '..the racist term- when did you last hear the music of Beethoven studied under éthnomusicology..'- Well, well Rajanbua, Bruno Netti's wrote one such book, inter alia on the ethnomusicology of the European Composers called 'Thirty-one Issues and Concepts'. Moreover, the original sanskrit texts on 'Hindu' music were basically rescued by the Europeans, and our music subjected to systematic compilation. For instance the Chapter XXVIII on music in the seminal work on Indian arts, Bharat's Natyasashtra was first translated from the sanskrit by Frenchman J. Grosset. Captain Willard, himself a practitioner, wrote his seminal book on the music of 'Hindoostan' in 1834...! If you have to hear Parrikar's rare collection, you have to put up with some highly 'opinionated' opinions also, he, he, he,... The one we really loved was 'National A****M' or 'National Disgrace'? Those stars are important- they stand between us and Liberty, for while Parrikar can take potshots at this holy symbol from the safety of California, we can't, for we are no longer at Shillong. Just read this: "I recall the trauma of my young days, forced to stand
to attention to this unworthy, uninspiring, and above all, unmusical rubbish. Pakistan has a
tuneful national a****m. (And they deserved to beat India in the recent Cricket
World Cup solely on this account – that and the fact that their players looked
like real athletes.) As does Sri
Lanka. Even the tiny Kingdom
of Tonga can claim a more evocative a****m."

That's what we call a real ''opinionated" opinion. It comes
from Rajan Parrikar, the self--styled ambassador of the Grand-dad of Cultural Cauldrons!Amgele mogaacho Goa…!

Albert Einstein, when
‘forced’ to describe the Theory of Relativity in one sentence, had famously
said: “Time, Space and Gravitation have no separate existence from Matter.” Elsewhere
also Einstein had once posed the question to his audience- what would happen to
Space if all matter was removed- Space itself would disappear, he proposed. What
Matter is to Space, Goa is to Indian Music yes, G -O -A Goa. Count on what we
say: aside of Caranatic, all
performed music- Marathi Natyageet,
Classical, Jazz, most of- all Hindi Film Music will disappear -wooossshhhh…..if
Goa is taken away from our Music Universe….! Auchit podlom tujea mogan (Suddenly did I fall in love) is a line
from the Konkani song Kedinch Chintunk Naslem (Never did I Think).

Suddenly it may have
happened, but every ghati is expected
to have his/her share of Goan Cousins. If you think marathis are dull muggles, not zindadil like say Punjabis, we'd say we have passed the taks of jiving and boozing to our Goan cousins! Our own cousins are in a sense opinion
leaders of the family, and we are really
clued on to their psyche, or rather, we are one
with them on many issues-‘ social justice’ issues for one. In general, Amgele boys, God bless them, will be
quite mercurial- some will be mainstream guys like Dr. Vivek Monteiro or our Poona
friend Joe Pinto, feisty Super
Cop Julio Ribeiro, Mario Miranda, DD Kosambi, Emergency fixer Hiranmay
Karlekar, Brothers Moraes, Prakash Shirodkar, Brothers O’Brien,..George
Fernandes (he, he, he, he’s a Mangalorean), some will be insular like fictional
Albert Pinto’s Australian Cousins, people perpetually planning emigration to
Canada or Australia, some will be snooty, classifying their brethren at the
Church Congregation into Original-Converts; Original-Converts- something which
the Lord forbids.

Many have created
institutions, but preferred to stay in the shadows- Da Cunha brothers ? Sylvester,
father of the great female Indian Idol- noooo, not Madhubala or Indira or
Katrina…we mean the Amul moppet- Utterly Butterly delicious- Bharat Dabholkar never
tires of talking about the greatness of his Utterly Butterly predecessor …then there is RCVP
Noronha, the native ICS topper, like they don’t make anymore, author of the
racy “Tale Told by an Idiot”- who did so much for the tribals of Madhya
Pradesh….they were all latent…avoiding public gaze…stepping aside for the
scoundrels…he, he, he…! ‘Dogged’ Eunice De Souza, from whom we learnt about the
real Jim Corbett…! The list is endless…then…contradictions abound…everybody in
Goa knows true blue Goan Christian friends whose prized possessions are photo
albums dating to their Gaud Saraswat Brahmin days…and finally we come to the
subject of today’s entry…matter and music…just hold your breath: Mangeshkars,
beginning Pt. Dinanath, Asha, Lata, Hridaynath- Anthony Gonzalves, Sebastian
D’Silva, Kesarbai Kerkar, Kishori Amonkar, Prabhakar Karekar, Pt. Abhisheki,
Pt. Khapru Parvatkar, Remo Fernandes, Chris Perry… the heart that beats in
India’s breast is Goa…

PT. RAVI SHANKAR: PROUD OF PT. KHAPRUJI'S SHABAASHI

The mysterious tabla
wizard mentioned in the post ‘Parvati Che Pt. Khapruji’, whose photograph was
displayed, was none else than Khaprumama Parvatkar of Goa, and the person who
started perspiring when he saw Mama sit in the front row was none else than yugpurush of sitar Bharat Ratna Pt. Ravi Shankar,. We have to believe the story for it
is in his own voice on Parrikar’s site…

Whew…

As
promised, we now touch upon the institution of ‘Arrangers’ in Indian Film
Music. Merriam-Webster defines ‘Arranger’ thus: .(music)a person who adapts a piece so that it can be played on different
instruments, or sung by different voices .

Everyone has had occasion to muse upon the phenomenon of what can be
euphemistically called ‘presence of external elements in Hindi Film Music’ –‘plagiarism’
is the ugly synonym…. Let’s say you are told ‘Ai dil hai mushkil..’(CID) is
a clone of ‘O my darling Clementine…’ ‘What about copyright..?’., and ‘Why are
there no protests from the creators…?’ are the usual misgivings…So far as
world-wide copyright period for music is concerned, it’s 50-70 years, broadly
speaking…one does not bother to sue is another matter…but one can certainly
raise a stink I sayyyy…! So why does nobody raise a stink…?

C.Ramchandra was once asked about Western influences on his music…eena meena dika..for example..he said
something to the effect that: नाहीनाही, उचलतोहाबरोबरशब्दनव्हे. आतासमजातुम्हालामित्राचासदराआवडलाआणितसलाचतुम्हीविकतघेतला- ह्यालाकायचोरीम्हणावं…..? (you like a friend's
shirt, and you acquire a similar one..is that stealing…? Nooo…!)..inspired…yes!

Our Arranger friends played a unique role in the world of Hindi Film
Music. The Goans led by Anthony Gonzalves, Sebastian D’Silva, Mark Machado,
Chic Chocolate (Antonio Xavier Vaz) , Gomes brothers…also Manohari Singh, who
represented the Eastern part of the country, were pioneers in this enterprise….

The ‘counter-melodies’ of Sebastian were to a large extent responsible
for the coming of age of Shankar Jaikishan- for example the accordion that
fills up the voids in ‘ai mere dil kaheen
aur chal…’ of Patita was created
by Sebastian (was a harmonium in fact, sounded like an accordion, such was the
finesse). The music in ‘Aayega
aanewala..’ (Mahal) and ‘Hum aapki aankhon mey…’(Pyaasa) was created by Anthony Gonsalves.

The Goan musicians were crazy about Jazz and used to be regular players
on the Chicago and New York Jazz circuit. “For a Goan jazzman, the greatest accolade was to be
told that he ‘played like a negro’ ”, says Naresh Fernandes writing for the
arch-Goan site Goanet. He provides numerous other insights:

“ The pianist
Johnny Fernandes, who later married Chic's daughter, Ursula, theorised about
Chic : "In Goa, Mahars were
grave-diggers. They'd also play snare drums and blow conches in funeral bands.
When they came to Bombay, they became good jazz drummers and trumpet
players."

For Hindustani Classical, just replace 'grave-digger' with 'devdasi'...speaks volumes for the dynamic egalitarian culture...

Chic scored
music for many movies as full Music Director, for instance Dev Anand starrer ‘Nadaan’
(1951).

“The bit parts
in which Catholics found themselves cast on screen weren't an accurate
portrayal of the vital role Goans played the Hindi film industry. Until the
'80s, India had no pop music save Hindi
film songs. Millions memorised and hummed the compositions of C Ramachandra,
Shankar-Jaikishan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Naushad and S D Burman, whose names
rolled by in large letters at the beginning of the movies. But the Sound of
India actually was created by Goan musicians, men whose names flickered by in small
type under the designation "arranger". It's clear. The Hindi film classics
that resound across the subcontinent and in Indian homes around the world
wouldn't have been made without Goans. Their dominance of the Hindi film world
is partly a function of the structural differences between Indian and Western
music. Indian classical music is melodic. The ragas that form the basis of Indian music are unilinear, each
instrument or vocalist exploring an independent line. To move an audience, film
scores must be performed by orchestras, with massed instruments playing in
harmony….Goans, with their training in Western music, knew how to produce what
was required.”

There was also Manohari Singh,
responsible for the best in sax in Hindi Film music (‘tere mere sapne ab ek rang..’, ‘bedardi baalama tujhko mera mann…’
etc.)- who hailed from Calcutta.

The Arrangers, apart from being possessors
of awesome talent, performed certain important functions. One, they excelled at
notation of music, a critical missing element in Hindi Cinema before their
advent. But most of all, they were lubricants of sorts- a bridge between Western
Jazz, Western Classical, contemporary western popular music of all types- and the
world of Hindi Film Music. The Arrangers straddled both worlds, and commanded goodwill
in America, having contributed to the music that was home-grown in that part of
the globe. That Music was common heritage, and hence the Indian Music Director
could just take shelter behind the Arrangers, saying booo to charges of
plagiarism. One hastens to add here that the complementarity (?) between the two classes of musicians was so
superb that each Hindi Music Director could retain his individuality while reaping
the crop sown by the Arrangers! It took the genius of both the classes to
create a remarkable genre of Music.

And it took the gallantry and self-effacement
of the Goans to allow all the credits to be laid at the feet of the Filmfare
Award Winners.

TAILPIECE:Stepping aside for scoundrels: Explanation:

Nineteenth century Speaker of the US Senate Henry Clay meets party enemy Senator John Randolph on a narrow sidewalk over a muddy street, refusing to give way. "I never step aside for a scoundrel," Clay says. Randolph tips his hat, steps into the mud and says, "I always do."

2 comments:

In the ultimate analysis, nothing created by men, under this sun, is original. Everyone of us is an Arranger, in one way or the other. So, I too salute the Goan Arrangers, who gave so much to us to enjoy, to relish........